Vets plead not guilty in 2 Carson killings

Vets plead not guilty in 2 Carson killings

The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Apr 15, 2008 7:19:56 EDT

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Two Iraq war veterans charged in the slayings of two Fort Carson soldiers pleaded not guilty Monday.

Former Fort Carson soldier Louis Edward Bressler, 25, and Pfc. Bruce Alan Bastien Jr., 21, face first-degree murder charges in the shooting death of Spc. Kevin Shields and the Aug. 4 robbery and shooting death of Pfc. Robert James.

A third soldier, Kenneth Lee Eastridge, 24, pleaded not guilty last month to first-degree murder charges in Shields’ death. He remained in the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center on $350,000 bond Monday. Bressler and Bastien were being held without bond.

All three served in Iraq with Shields, whose body was found Dec. 1. Trial for the Shields slaying is scheduled for July 14.

A judge set Oct. 6 as the trial date for Bastien and Bressler in the James slaying. Eastridge was still in Iraq when James was killed and is not suspected in his death.

Bressler and Eastridge have left the Army. Bastien, 21, was being discharged for medical reasons, but that has been suspended pending the outcome of the case, according to Fort Carson officials.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/ap_carsonkilling_041508/